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of the Court, and the valuation for secondclass railway property also will be made by the State Board of Assessors, although the rate of taxation of this kind of property will be in each case that prevailing in the individual municipality. The State and the people of New Jersey may be congratulated on this decision, which sets the seal of the highest judicial power of the State upon the principle of compelling the railways to sustain their proper part of the burden of taxation. When it is said, in reply to the demand that railways should pay taxes on property as do other corporations and individuals, that they render such public service that they should be treated tenderly as regards taxes, the reply is obvious: they do render such public service, but in requital therefor the public bestows upon them franchises and privileges of enormous value, so that for them to ask for relief from taxes also is to demand to be paid twice over for the same thing.

The Harden Trials

The Outlook has said nothing about the charges brought by a German editor, Maximilian Harden, against a number of men prominent in German court circles, anong them Count Kuno von Moltke and Prince zu Eulenburg. These charges were too scandalous to be in any way indicated in the columns of a decent newspaper. The charges not only affected the character of the persons accused, but affirmed that they had constituted a kind of kitchen cabinet, or "Camarilla," and had again and again given the Emperor misleading information and had exerted a very unfortunate influence over him.

Count von Moltke brought a civil suit against Harden for alleged injuries to his reputation. The case aroused intense interest throughout Germany, and indeed throughout Europe; and in spite of the unspeakable nature of the charges, the testimony was widely reprinted, and much more frankly, it may be said in passing, than would have been possible for the yellowest journalism in this country. Harden was acquitted, and the plaintiff was sentenced to pay the cost of the suit. Taking into account the exalted political position of the

accused, and the great respect in which the Imperial court is held in Germany, this action of a German judge was regarded as sustaining the high character of the German courts for independence. A criminal suit was then brought by the public prosecutor, at the instigation of Count von Moltke and his associates, on the charge that Harden had committed an offense against public morals. morals. On this trial the same witnesses appeared as on the former trial, but a great change had taken place in their memory of the transactions to which they had testified on the first trial. They either contradicted or repudiated their former statements to such a degree that their evidence was discredited and Harden's defense was broken down. Harden was found guilty and sentenced to four months' imprisonment. What changed the attitude of the witnesses is a matter of guesswork. It has been charged that their change of front was due to very powerful influences brought to bear upon them. However this may be, Harden has undoubtedly effected his purpose. He has seriously discredited a group of men who formed a kind of irresponsible Cabinet, and he has probably destroyed whatever influence they possessed with the Emperor. The latter was greatly scandalized both by the charges and the evidence which sustained those charges. He has undoubtedly made an investigation on his own account. If Count von Moltke and his associates are not restored to favor, the public will understand that, while they have been formally acquitted, the charges against them have been substantially proved and they have been dismissed in disgrace from public life. It is quite certain that, whether or not Harden's charges were true in detail, there was considerable flame behind so much smoke, and substantial good has undoubtedly been effected by the trials.

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tures, and colors symbolize the many states, communities, and castes which compose the total Indian population of three hundred millions. But the high, low, flat, circular, tricorn turbans, in their various solid or variegated colors, also typify the Oriental prejudices to be welded into harmonious nationalism and adjusted to democratic ideals. The Congress certainly foreshadows an embryo parliament. It has become such a fixed annual institution that the unruly scenes attending its opening this year attract special attention. The principal note of excitement was struck by the appearance of a native agitator, Laj-pat-Raj, whose deportation earlier in the year was deemed necessary by the Indian Government, but whose release was

lately ordered. The roads through which he passed were strewn with garlands, the horses were taken out of his carriage and it was drawn from the railway station three miles to the Congress camp. When the two thousand delegates and other thousands of onlookers assembled, the Bande Mataram-words meaning politically "Hail, Motherland!"—was sung-that invocation to the goddess of Kalikut which has become a hymn of patriotism. After the address of welcome, the gathering proceeded to the appropriate election as President of Dr. Ghose, a distinguished native lawyer. The subsequent turbulence arose between a small but noisy body of Extremists and a large but less noisy body of Moderates. The disturbance was not altogether unexpected. Since the Since the previous meeting of the Congress serious things have happened in various parts of India. The recent partition of Bengal into two provinces and the alleged throttling of Indian trade there through British competition led to a boycott of British goods; in the Punjab the settlement of a new population on irrigated land led to such unrest that even the army was reported to be affected; in the Madras presidency the thrashing of an Indian by an army doctor led to a long-continued riot. To crown all, the Seditious Meetings Act has met with general opposition from the natives. But there are deeper causes of unrest. Despite the benefits conferred upon India by

England in abolishing slavery, reducing religious feuds and class distinctions, establishing courts of justice, and initiating a common language, the National Congress this year, as every year, protested against the oppressive or inadequate administration of certain governmental departments-taxation, military control, the courts, civil service, irrigation, and education. But in the general protest there were clearly distinguishable the two voices characteristic of the two classes which exist wherever human nature exists, extremists and moderates, doctrinaires and practical people. The Extremists, avowed advocates of sedition and violent rebellion, have been considerably strengthened by the recent speeches in India of Mr. Keir Hardie, the Labor Socialist member of Parliament. But their plans for national independence are vague and indefinite, if grandiose. On the other hand, the Moderates have definite, practical measures for a greater measure of self-government, many of which have, fortunately, already found favor with the British people as a whole.

A long and fruitful life, disProfessor tinguished for service to pure Young science and for teaching ability as well, was ended by the death of Professor Charles A. Young at his home in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he had been living since his retirement from the professorship of astronomy in Princeton University two years ago. The son of a Dartmouth college professor, and born in Hanover, Professor Young graduated from college at the head of his class, taught for a time in Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, was captain of a company of men who volunteered from Western Reserve University in 1862, and while in service near Vicksburg suffered an impairment of health from which he never fully recovered. He held the professorship of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy in Western Reserve University from 1857 to 1866, that of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in Dartmouth from 1866 until 1877, and that of Astronomy at Princeton from 1877 until 1905. He took part in many astronomical expedi

tions. The services which he rendered during the observation of an eclipse in Spain in 1870 secured for him the Janssen medal from the French Academy of Sciences. Four years later he observed the transit of Venus from Peking, China. He devised an automatic spectroscope which is in common use, made special and fruitful studies of the solar spectrum and solar prominences, developed a method of calculating the velocity of the sun's rotations, was honored by membership in a long list of philosophical and scholarly societies, wrote a number of popular books on astronomy, contributed generously to scientific publications, and, in addition to his work in Princeton, was one of the most popular lecturers on scientific subjects in the country. On his retirement from Princeton a loving-cup was presented to him on which were inscribed the words: "I know I am mortal and the creature of a day. Yet when I search the close-set whirling circles of the stars, no longer do I stand with feet upon the earth, but, seated with Jove himself, I take my fill of the breath of heaven."

By a very simple expeAn Old Church dient, Plymouth Church, Transformed Brooklyn, has been transformed from a very plain, not to say homely, auditorium into a dignified and beautiful though still very simple house of worship. A porch in harmony with the severe simplicity of this Puritan meeting-house has taken the place of the old storm-house, and gives a worthy entrance to the church; and within a series of pictured memorial windows admits the sunlight, gives artistic beauty, and furnishes the room with a Puritan atmosphere, all of which were before lacking. All the pictures portray scenes in the history of the Puritan Church, and represent pictorially certain fundamental Puritan principles. The eight side windows above the gallery are in place; and below the gallery eight windows with similar themes are to be added, though in these lower windows account will be taken of the Baptist, the Dutch, the Quaker, the Cavalier, and the Huguenot in their influence on Ameri

can life. Of the three windows opposite the pulpit, one will be occupied by a portrait of Mr. Beecher; the subjects of the other two are not yet announced. In two respects these windows are, so far as we know, unique. One harmonious and comprehensive plan has been adopted, and while the donor of any window is at liberty to select from this plan the design which pleases him, no donor is permitted to form his own design. As a consequence, the whole church will be pictorially a unit. And all the pictures are human, not ecclesiastical, and modern, not ancient; no one of them goes back of the early English Puritan age, the age of Cromwell, Hampden, and Milton.

A Unique Church Symbolism

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The picture scheme was very well put before the men's annual supper of Plymouth Church by the designer in an informal address last week. He said that it was universally recognized that the modern church was not meeting modern needs. To meet them it must become modern in its architecture and its symbolism. The modern man was not interested in ecclesiastical symbolism; it meant nothing to him. To abolish all symbolism and give plain walls and plain windows was little better, for mere negation attracts no one. need, he said, a symbolism which appeals to modern life and brings a message to which the modern man will listen. The speaker instanced the window representing John Hampden appealing for the Bill of Rights, and that representing John Milton pleading for the liberty of the press, the one bringing the message of political liberty, the other of liberty of the press, both threatened by enemies in our time as dangerous as those which threatened in the time of Charles I., and more subtle. He said truly that the Puritan churches recognized the value of music as a means of promoting the spirit of worship, and he believed that the time was not far distant when they would equally recognize a like value in color. Thus three qualities characterize this successful attempt to enrich this famous Meeting-House with

out sundering its associations with the past: unity of design, modern symbolism, spiritual values. If we are not mistaken, the credit of originating the plan is due to Dr. Hillis, the present pastor of the Plymouth Church. He has been ably supported in carrying it through by the Church and especially by the Board of Trustees; the execution of the design has been intrusted to Mr. Frederick Stymetz Lamb, who has wisely been given freedom to work out his designs without interference from individual donors, with, as a result, a harmony, both æsthetic and symbolic, which otherwise could not have been attained. We are not surprised to be told that these windows, while they were yet in the studio, were visited by thousands, and it is certain that they will be visited by many thousands more now that they are in place. They are well worth study by all who believe or wish to believe that it is possible to combine beauty with simplicity, and symbolic significance with human feeling, in our modern houses of worship.

The success of "A Grand A Poor Play; a Army Man," now being Good Actor played at the Stuyvesant Theater in New York City, is due entirely to the acting of Mr. Warfield, who in this play, as in "The Music Master," overshadows everybody else on the stage and creates a new rôle. The play is so slight as to do little more than reawaken the sentiment of gratitude for the men who faced the perils of the Civil War, and to present the outlines of a character which Mr. Warfield fills in and vitalizes with his unaffected and beautiful art. The pathos of a great memory, cherished by a diminishing number of men, invests the homely setting of this little story with deep human interest. It is wholesome to be reminded of the debt which the country owes to the men who preserved its integrity a generation ago. It is not ingratitude, but the preoccupation of other problems and duties, that sometimes relegates the men and events of the great crisis of the Civil War into the land of forgetfulness. No one, however, can come in contact with that heroic struggle in any of its worthy sur

vivors without realizing the dignity and greatness of the tradition of heroism. Not long ago the President of a leading college, who had seen service in the Federal Army, was suddenly reminded, by a reference to the day of the month, that it was the anniversary of the march of his division to Richmond; and as he recalled this great memory he rose from his chair and tears came into his eyes as he named one after another of his comrades. Mr. Warfield, who is as unaffectedly and simply human as was Mr. Jefferson, succeeds, as did Jefferson, in vitalizing the thinnest of plays into an appealing drama, and furnishes another illustration of the perfection of his art in the field which he has chosen to make his own. The play is much less interesting than "The Music Master." It has not the same contrasts; it does not overflow with humor; it has more than one tragic situation, but the situations do not appeal in the same way to the audience. But Mr. Warfield's success is quite as marked in this as in his earlier play, and the drama, as he interprets it, belongs with the small group of plays that illustrate the finer qualities of human character.

Plays for Children

A generation ago one of the pleasantest features of Christmas was the number of performances at the best theaters specially designed for children, but in which their elders found the joy of reminiscence and of present pleasure as well. Those performances have, for some reason, been given up. The pantomime is no longer followed with eager faces; Pantaloon, Harlequin, and Columbine are seen no more on the metropolitan stage. This is the more surprising because London still delights at the Christmas season in telling the old stories in dramatic form, and presenting the old plays which have delighted generations of young hearts and imaginations during the holiday season. It is reported that twenty-two theaters in that city presented plays and pantomimes especially for children during holiday week, to say nothing of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Peter Pan," those modern classics which have

already taken their place beside "Jack the Giant-Killer," "Puss in Boots," "Dick Whittington," "The Forty Thieves," and the venerable but never aged "Humpty Dumpty." Have American children outgrown the romances which delighted the children of earlier days, or are they too sophisticated to enjoy the simple tales which have been the delight of other centuries? For older people there was no greater pleasure than a theater crowded on a holiday afternoon with rosy-faced children, alive with expectation, watching intently every movement on the stage, and ready to make the theater ring with their laughter. It was enough to make one young. an antidote for problem-plays and for the endless and melancholy repetition of the sex-theme, "Humpy Dumpty," "Sindbad the Sailor," and " Jack and the Beanstalk" would be an immense relief.

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One of the largest The Committee of and most enthusiasOne Hundred tic of the sectional meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recently held in Chicago, was the Symposium on Federal Regulation of Public Health, held by the Economic Section in conjunction with the Committee of One Hundred on National Health, and representatives from other great organiza tions. The opening address was by Professor William H. Welch, the retiring President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in it he emphasized the importance of the movement conducted by the Committee of One Hundred. He described the existing neglect of health as shameful, and pointed out that, if existing hygienic knowledge were fully applied, the death rate might be cut in two. examples of what a Federal Health Bureau might do he cited the work of Pasteur and Koch, whose best work was done for the national governments of France and Germany, though the benefits have been shared by all nations. In America we lack even the statistics of disease except in a limited area. Professor F. F. Wesbrook, the dean of the Medical School of the University of Minnesota, showed the need of Federal

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jurisdiction over railways and waterways, which carry diseases from one State to another, and showed that such jurisdiction would have prevented the ChicagoSt. Louis controversy over the drainage canal. Mr. Edward T. Devine made a stirring speech, bringing home to the audience what a reduction in the death rate means in the concrete experience of the individual. The elimination of deaths from tuberculosis, even if the same number of deaths were added to the mortality from other diseases coming later in life, would lengthen the average life by twelve years. In the summer of 1906 Professor J. P. Norton, of Yale, read a paper before the Economic Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, on the Economic Advisability of a National Organization of Health, which excited much interest and resulted in the formation of the Committee of One Hundred. This Committee was first formally organized on April 18, 1907. Its officers at present are President, Irving Fisher; Secretary,Edward T. Devine; Treasurer, Title Guarantee and Trust Company; VicePresidents, the Rev. Lyman Abbott, Miss Jane Addams, Dr. Felix Adler, President James B. Angell, the Hon. Joseph H. Choate, President Charles W. Eliot, Archbishop Ireland, the Hon. Ben B. Lindsey, Mr. John Mitchell, Dr. William H. Welch. In the following month (May, 1907) President Roosevelt sent the Committee a letter of indorsement in which he said: "Our national health is physically our greatest national asset. To prevent any possible deteri oration of the American stock should be a national ambition. We cannot too strongly insist on the necessity of proper ideals for the family, for simple living, and for those habits and tastes which produce vigor and make men capable of strenuous service for their country. The preservation of national vigor should be a matter of patriotism. I can most cordially commend the endeavors of your Committee to bring these matters prominently before the public." There are now about six thousand five hundred persons on the various mailing lists of the Committee of One Hundred. The American Health League, the National society

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